General Chat

Its not a new video its one taken when the bird was here but it gone now quite a wile ago. I still am having trouble sending it. I'll try again tomorrow.

Going to watch Wolf Hall now and have a bowl of cornflakes and some grapes.

Oh Ann lol its this blooming I pad it puts in letters and makes it's own words lol if I'm not careful its going to get me in trouble :-0

Ann the plant is pretty and I got it from the plant man at the football ground where OH went to a match once .

Oh well you can only eat the chocolates once but its when you get another box to replace it that will put on the pounds :-D

Evening All,

A chilly day here and rain like Mandy has had. I still haven't been in the mood to get to grips with the new heating controls so it's just ON and OFF for now, but I have managed to increase the temperature, although it seems to default to the cooler setting again once it goes off.

I didn't want draught proof plants that withstand cold draughts around them, it was drought proof ones I want to use that don't need much water. lol. I might pop to the garden centre in the village if I can manage to get up early tomorrow and see what they have in stock as their prices are less than the bigger garden centres. I looked up your plant Mandy and it is a very pretty member of the cigar plant family. I might get one next year too, as I really like how unusual it is, but have a look as I think it might need some winter protection. Oh well done getting your puddings made! More nice smells in the kitchen!

I see the bird is still around then Mel. I bet your BIL was pleased to be able to get a video of it and hear it call.

Apart from get our lunch I have done very little today. I decided not to change the bed with the forecast of more cold and snow further north, so just tinkered with my family tree. OH led me into temptation by getting down a box of our Christmas chocs to have!!

Puddings all cooked and it's raining here now .

I expect mine could be pale yellow as well Mandy. Shall have to wait until next year to see.

I have made two Christmas puddings so they are now steaming away ,and rather than make one big one I make two smaller ones so they don't take so long to steam .

Suns still shining but there is a little cloud now .

Anng mine has pale yellow flowers and I've had them in the garden for several years now and they haven't spread very much but you should be fine having them in a pot .

Having trouble with the email will try later.

BIL has been and gone but he brought me a video he took of the Great Northan diver so I am going to see if I can send it. Its only short but it does call on the video.

Mandy I only asked as one would have been nice for my neighbours little baby girl.

Mandy yes it does have spiky leaves and this one should have creamy spiky flowers I think.

Morning all,

We have sunshine ,lovely blue sky and trails from the planes going over .,must have had rain in the night as there's puddles on the road.

Glad you all liked the gnomes ,not sure if I'll sell any Mel ,I know dil wants some ,the Christmas ones I think .

I think I might have that plant with the yellow flowers in the front garden Anng ,does it have long leaves up to a spike and the leaves go really dark when they die off .
I have a pretty plant I bought for the trough in the back garden ,Vermillionaire I think its called ,its flowered all the summer since I bought it and still, has flowers on it ,I want to see if I can get another for the front ,I also think its draught resistant.

Not a lot planned for today but no doubt I'll do something

Morning all,

Brighter morning here than yesterday and we have a little sun coming up and pc says 9 degrees.

Nothing planned here today either so I may do the same as you Anng.

Good morning all 5 degrees here and a bit gloomy looking. Slept well last night and finally woke around 7am. Nothing planned for today so maybe write some cards and wrap some presents.

It gets more necessary each year to find draught resistant plants.

Yes, till I looked I hadn't realised there were taller ones AnnG. They seem to flower for quite a few weeks, so yours should be nice in a pot. I want to put a smallish ceramic pot I bought a while ago at the side of the front door. I want to put houseleeks and other drought resistant alpine things in it and some of my purple ones would be good to add. Those kinds of plants won't need much watering but will add a bit of interest and colour.

Ann I am not sure but I think this is one of the taller variety.

Evening All,

I thought I'd woken quite early this morning till I saw the clock. It's so dark in the mornings and gets dark so early too now. It was bit warmer this morning when I went to the shop. I jumped in my car to find the floormat right forward and the seat right back from the locksmith testing the key. I can only reach the seat adjuster with the end tips of my fingertips (men not designing things for us shorter women I expect!) and the seat is stiff to slide, so my back wasn't happy after all the effort to move it where it needs to be. The Egret was there alongside the brook today, but I couldn't get any close pics as I only had my phone with me. Cars driving by don't seem to bother it at all and I wonder with it being fairly tame whether it has escaped from Birdland a few miles away. An old boy came into view tottering along very slowly with a stick and stopping every half dozen steps. I decided to wait a while as he seemed really unsteady. He managed to get up the kerb onto the grass and made his way in fits and starts to the little footbridge across the brook where he held the rail and rested. I wondered if he was heading for the chemist the other side, so watched him and was ready to go and offer to fetch something for him if necessary. He just got to the middle of the bridge and spent a while looking up and down the brook, then tottered back and down the kerb and past my car the way he'd come. He was probably just getting a bit of exercise, but he didn't look safe with just a stick.

Mandy the latest gnomes are brilliant too! I love the one with Christmas lights, but they all have lovely little touches that make them individual and interesting.

I seem to have three of the rock type of Sisyrinchium, a bit taller one with spiky daffodil yellow flowers, then a short purple one and a violet one with variegated leaves. None of those are invasive and are easy to pull up if they do stray a bit. I may have lost the variegated one last summer and there is less of the purple one probably as we didn't get much watering done last year. There are a few bits of the yellow one left in the front garden after I stopped OH thinking they were weeds as he had already dug up the ones in the bottom border near the road thinking it was grass! I would think yours will be fine in a pot as you say AnnG.

Sorry you have had a bad night again Vera and I hope tonight will be better. Good idea to make a start on writing your cards a bit at a time. MIL had a tremor with her hands at times and found it a nuisance. I think with my scrawly writing people may think I've had one too many anyway! lol. You have reminded me I must check the posting dates for abroad and get those written and sent.

I am not actually worried about Windows 11 itself but I think I will not be able to run my picasa photo programme which I have used for many years to edit and store photos in albums.

Thanks for the pictures of the gnomes Mandy. You must have quite a collection now and they just keep getting better. This time I particularly like the one with the green scarf (snowman gnome?) and the delicate pastel coloured one with her stripey hat.

AnnG, I am sure my brother had Sisyrinchium in his garden and I remember it as a medium height (at least knee height on me) pale yellow upright plant. I think it is inclined to self seed everywhere but you should be able to keep control of it in the planter. These computer companies can be a bit bullying at times and don't make it easy to say no, but stick to your guns and don't have Windows 11 till you feel ready for it or you have no option. We have had Windows 11 on both computers since it first came out and haven't found it a problem but it should be your choice. It sounds as though you have had a nice day at the Jet Age Museum.

It got to 10 degrees today so not cold for mid-November but it's been very cloudy and grey again all day. There was an amazing moon last night. I couldn't sleep again and went down to the kitchen to get some hot milk. The blinds were down but the room was so light that I opened the blinds to see what was going on and there was the brightest moon I've seen in years. It had a large, hazy halo all round it and looked just as though it had burnt a big hole through the clouds.

After only sleeping from about 5 am to 8 am I haven't had much energy today but we did pop to Sainsbury's for some fresh veg, salad and milk. I've also washed another king size duvet cover, moved some ornaments to different places around the house by way of a change and started on writing a few Christmas cards. I've only done 5 so far and none of them needed more than a couple of words of greeting. My intermittent hand tremor is getting more frequent and I never know when it is going to start so writing lots of cards etc can be a bit of a trial. I just try and make sure that the house number and the postcode are clear but I reckon some of the recipients will think I had had one over the eight when they try to read who the card is from.

We've got the remains of yesterday's stew to eat tonight so I'm now going to go and make some dumplings to go in it. Stay warm everyone.

I think when you have finished Mandy there should be a photo of a gnome convention. All the gnomes together in one photo.

Just been to the Jet Age Museum, It is 5 minutes by car from here and we never visited it. There were 4 of us from Churchdown and none of us had been there before. It was really interesting, lots to see, lots of information and some aircraft on display. And we has a 20 minute talk inside the front ens of a Trident passenger aircraft with half the talk in the passenger part (They flew until the 80s, and half the talk in the cockpit explaining how the plane was flown etc. Really interesting. Had a nice lunch before at the local pub. I had lasagne

As I said in the email Mandy, love all the new gnomes especially Father C.